Stellar encounters as the origin of distant solar system objects in highly eccentric orbits
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Astrophysics, abstract
astro-ph/0412030
From: Scott J. Kenyon [view email]
Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2004 19:29:08 GMT (746kb)
Stellar encounters as the origin of distant solar system objects in
highly eccentric orbits
Authors:
Scott J. Kenyon,
Benjamin C. Bromley
Comments: 9 pages, 3 figures
Journal-ref: Nature 432 (2004) 598
The discovery of Sedna places new constraints on the origin and evolution of
our solar system. Here we investigate the possibility that a close encounter
with another star produced the observed edge of the Kuiper belt, at roughly 50
AU, and the highly elliptical orbit of Sedna. We show that a passing star
probably scattered Sedna from the Kuiper Belt into its observed orbit. The
likelihood that a planet at 60-80 AU can be scattered into Sedna’s orbit is
roughly 50%; this estimate depends critically on the geometry of the flyby.
Even more interesting, though, is the roughly 10% chance that Sedna was
captured from the outer disk of the passing star. Most captures have very high
inclination orbits; detection of these objects would confirm the presence of
extrasolar planets in our own Solar System.
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